[_Sighing._] If I'd had the pluck to declare myself sooner, it might have been different. [_Staring before him._] From the moment I first set eyes on her, at the dinner-party you gave to welcome her on her arrival in London--from that moment I was captured completely, body and soul. The sight of her as she stood in the drawing-room beside her mother, with her pretty, white face and her elegant figure, and a gown clinging to her that looked as though she'd been born in it--'twill never fade from me if I live to be as old as a dozen Methuselahs! SIR RANDLE. [_Pryingly._] Er--has Ottoline--I have no desire to probe an open wound--has she assigned any--reason----? SIR TIMOTHY. [_Rousing himself._] For rejecting me? SIR RANDLE. [_With a wave of the hand._] For---- LADY FILSON. For not seeing her way clear---- SIR RANDLE. To--er--in short--accept you? SIR TIMOTHY. She _has_. LADY FILSON. _Has_ she! SIR TIMOTHY. The best--and, for me, the worst--of reasons. There's another man in the case. SIR RANDLE. Another----? LADY FILSON. Another----! SIR RANDLE. [_To_ LADY FILSON.] Extraordinary! LADY FILSON. Bewildering. SIR RANDLE. We have been blind, Winnie. LADY FILSON. Absolutely. SIR TIMOTHY. And, whoever he may be, I trust he'll worship her as devoutly as I do, and treat her with half the gentleness _I'd_ have treated her with, had she selected _me_ for her Number Two. SIR RANDLE. [_Piously._] Amen! [_To_ LADY FILSON.] Winifred----? LADY FILSON. [_Rather fretfully._] Amen. SIR TIMOTHY. [_Rising._] And with that sentiment on my lips, and in every fibre of my body, I'll relieve you of my depressing company. [_Going to_ LADY FILSON, _who rises at his approach, and taking her hand._] My dear lady---- LADY FILSON. [_Genuinely._] My dear Sir Timothy! SIR RANDLE. [_Moving to the glazed door._] Painful! Painful! [_As_ SIR TIMOTHY _turns from_ LADY FILSON, BERTRAM _reappears, in morning-dress, entering from the hall._ BERTRAM. [_Drawing back on seeing_ SIR TIMOTHY.] Oh! [_To_ SIR RANDLE.] Am I intruding? SIR RANDLE. Come in, my boy. You're just in time to give a parting grasp of the hand to our friend here. BERTRAM. [_Advancing to_ SIR TIMOTHY, _surprised._] Parting----?